The
Youth
Restoration
Project
The Youth Restoration Project’s goals:
ALL YOUTH ARE:
* Mentally and Physically healthy
* Residently stable
* Living in a nourishing family conext
* In good graces with the community (and the law)
* On track to graduate from high school.
The Youth Restoration Project (YRP) is really a series of partnerships. Rhode Island agencies both private and public, are collaborating on working with youth and their families, not for (enabling) or at (telling them what to do). Many families need help learning how to take care of their own effectively. But like a good parent, YRP works closely with families when necessary and backs off as soon as possible, when the family begins to function well and independently. YRP uses many approaches first to build strong communities capable of robust self-maintenance, and second, to restore youth, when necessary, to a road bound for a future success.
Philosophically, restoration uses punishment only as a last resort. Instead, it works to get to the bottom of social problems – “Why is the child behaving this way?” – and ultimately tries to heal the hurt or harm – “What would make this situation right?” Restoration involves all the stakeholders, including the victim(s), the allies of both the victims and miscreants, and representatives of the community whose peace was disturbed. The research is clear that from trivial misbehavior to serious crime, restoration reduces recidivism, prevents misbehavior from escalating and produces high community satisfaction. Humans will mess up, get angry or behave thoughtlessly, so restitution and reconciliation must always be available to make things as right as possible for all parties.
Historically, restorative practices grew out of the innovations in the juvenile justice systems in Australia, New Zealand and three provinces in Canada. In all three cases, aboriginal people came forward complaining that the justice systems imprisoned their kids disproportionately, made the kids’s behavior worse while in prison, and then gave them back to a community that was only the worse for the whole process. Those aboriginal people argued that before justice systems or government bureaucracies, tribes and extended families sat around a circle (think campfire) and discussed the misbehavior or crime and its effect on the victim, the perpetrator and the rest of the community. Together they jointly decided on appropriate restitution. While the consequences they meted out might be considered brutal by today’s standards, the community was consulted and determined for themselves what would make them stronger.
Evidence from what is now a growing international movement proves the ineffectiveness and downright damage caused by punitive, retributive responses to unwanted behavior. (See links to research below) Punishment feeds anti-social behavior, so the bad kid tends to keep getting worse. Clearly, some out-of-control or profoundly anti-social children will have to be sequestered from the mainstream community. For these, traditional courts and special school placements remain. But as the restoration movement grows, it increasingly involves schools and children because the mis-placed faith in punishment starts at home and school.
On a day-to-day basis, the YRP links individuals to support services which, in the process, teach conflict management and emotional control. All YRP workers are trained in keeping circles, which are updated and adapted from tribal techniques for community building and conflict resolution. Some YRP workers are also trained in mediation (a far more formal dispute resolution technique), conferencing (when workers work privately and separately with the disputants preparing them to come together), and family conferencing (when children have committed misdemeanors and crimes that require conferencing with their families as well).
Welcome
Additional resources directly related to the Youth Restoration Project
The Continuum Graph
Additional resources regarding restorative practices
Prison ministries website
Other websites
Julia Steiny's four Vermont Columns
Partner agencies include:
The RI Department of Education
The Central Falls Police Department
Resources & Projects
Retribution says: “You’ve broken our rules and until you pay us back by being punished, you are not welcome in our community.” (And as we know, even when debts to society have been paid, the person is labeled “bad” and subtler punishments continue.)
Restoration says: “You are one of our own and we do not give up on you. But that particular behavior is unacceptable because it is harmful to all of us, including you. So we will work with you as you learn social skills, make restitution and rejoin us with a clean slate.”
Restoring relatedness:
Hanging on to each other by deliberately hanging on to each other.
The Youth Restoration Project
Youth Restoration Project copyright © 2009
